


Broken Peaches

by bessemerprocess



Category: Life, Politician RPF
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-20
Updated: 2008-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-02 21:04:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/pseuds/bessemerprocess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barack wants Charlie at the State of the Union and he sends Rahm to get him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Peaches

**Author's Note:**

> r0knr0ll might recognize this as an expansion of a drabble I wrote for her.

The cop is slightly off. Like he's been broken and put back together one too many times.

Barack wants him at the State of the Union because he ran into a burning building to save a girl or some shit Rahm doesn't fucking care about. Crews had said no. Said no to the intern who called first, said no to Jim who called next, said no to Barack who called last. So Barack sends Rahm out to sunny California for one last attempt. Sometimes his President's tenacity drives Rahm to distraction.

Rahm has never been accused of being a softie. Never. He is Rahm Fucking Emanuel. Except he keeps finding himself treating Charlie Crews like he's one of the kids, or Barack on a particularly bad day. It's not until Tom fills Rahm in on the background that he understands. Rahm has a thing for people who have created themselves for some higher purpose, whether it's running the country or revenge. And Charlie Crews surely wants revenge.

Rahm suggests they take a walk and Crews tells him to call him Charlie. It's like Rahm is step off Charlie's rhythm. He's not sure where to put his feet. Charlie takes them on a wandering route through downtown. Rahm thinks he had said something about a park, but all Rahm sees is concrete and Charlie Crews.

Charlie is all lines and angles that don't quite meet and Rahm is getting trapped in his Esher-esque architectural impossibilities. He is a man of his passions, he always has been, but Rahm can't remember falling into the idea of someone like this since college. Rahm needs to know Charlie Crews and if the looks he's getting back are any indication, Crews is more then willing to let Rahm learn.

They stop on a patch of green too tiny to be called a park even in New York.

"Want a peach?"

Rahm puts his hands on his hips, but Charlie only goes back to the peach.

"Fruit is better than cheesecake," says Charlie, a tiny trickle of juice on his chin. He must have done his research or at least a cursory Google search. It's not like Rahm's predilection towards cheesecake isn't well known.

If Charlie wants to play this way, well, he should have realized that Rahm is the master. He uses his thumb to swipe away the juice and licks it clean. "Nothing," Rahm says softly, "is better than cheesecake."

Charlie gets that face, which says, I'm about to say something that will cause your brain to break. It's a look Rahm has already learned to recognize and try and head off at the pass. "A monk held out his short staff and said, 'If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?' There is always something better, Rahm."

Rahm jumps tracks. "Look, Zen-man, your President is asking you to do something and you keep saying no. He doesn't ask people to do things if they don't need doing."

"Nothing needs doing and yet everything is done," Charlie says and leans in against Rahm. "If I say yes, there will be a last minute problem. The FBI will dig something up to say I'm a security risk. Go back to your President, Rahm, and tell him to find someone else. You can come by tonight and try to convince me again, but the answer will be the same."

Rahm will take Charlie up on that offer because nothing is ever simple and he will not go back home without trying everything. He knows trying everything with Charlie Crews will be extra sweet.


End file.
